Crystal River current., 1887-02-05

view Of Paris is obtained extending
over distant reach Of the Seine. The
river parts at the foot Of the hotel gar
dens to embrace in its two channels
the whole Island St. Louis. Modern
Paris seems annihilated. The Tuilcries,
the Champs. Elysees. the boulevards,
with their noise and meretricious glare,
are forgotten. Two hundred years are
as If they had never been.
The gallery is used for receptions,
and leaves on all visitors an ineffacea-
BILE impression. Lebrun and Lesueur
have painted the neurological frescoes
of the roof They represent the mar
riage OF Hercules and Hebe. The gods
of Olympus. with attending nymphs
appearing amid the clouds, support
garlands of flowers twining around the
cornice. Columbus starting from the
walls form inches containing medal
lions surmounted by scutcheons Of
bronze surrounded by intricate ar
abeseques Of gold on a pale-gray
ground. The shutters are decorated in
the same style and tone. There is
hardly q gallery in the Louvre that
can compete with the magnificent
apartment where the wealth of gliding
is subdued, and. as it were, chastened
by the undimmed splendor of the
paintings and the depth of coloring
above.
On the raised ground floor are the
private apartments of Prince Withhold
Cszartorisky, son of Prince Adam, the
first possessor, and of his family.
Lofty, comfortable, elegant. and con-
venient. they bear the impress of
patriarchal, cheerful, elevated home
life. All who have entered them have
received courteous, kind, dignified
welcome. Prince Withhold married
Marguerite d'Orleans. daughter of H
r. H. the Due de Nemours. She is al
lied by her mother, princess of Sake
Coburg, to all the royal families Of
Germany. and by her father to all the
Bourbons. Her simplicity of manner
and address at once puts her guests at
their ease. She is tall, graceful, and
possesses wonderfl charm of express
sion. Her husband has been and is
still strikingly handsome. Exile and
yearning for his distant fatherland
have prematurely aged him and given
him. q gravity and austerity beyond his
actual years, but he is nevertheless as
courteously hospitabls as the princess.
With royal munificence the Cszartor-
iskys have consecrated one wing of the
hotel to an orphanage and school for
Polish children. 1t is their wish and
their aim that those young waits should
be instructed and made to cherish their
national tongue. keeping warm and
strong within their breasts the love of
Poland. Every year when Easter comes
round an old and touching custom opens
wide the portals of tho Hotel Lambert
to every Pole. rich or poor, young and
old, who may happen to pass before it.
1t is habit of the country that the
great day of the resurrection should be
celebrated by a banquet called the
"Beni." The priest goes around in ev-
cry family. blessing the tables spread
with viands. They are always cold and
are eaten standing traditional repast
in commemoration of the pascal lamb
are enormous cakes con-
cocted from recipes found only in Po-
land.
At the Hotel Lambert the Benz il
indeed. Six large tables
laid in the gallery groan under the
weight of the family plate and the ever
replenished fare. The prince and prin-
cess, assisted by their sister. Countess
Dzelinska, stand from noon till evening
ministering to all corners. No invita-
tions are issued. Whoever chooses to
come is made welcome, be he noble or
plebian. the only condition to his ad-
mittance being that he speaks the
tongue of his host. This annual agape,
this gathering around him Of those who
are of his race and of his land, is the
one green oasis in the eternal plain of
the Cszartorisky's exile.